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Rabbi Toba's Shabbat Thoughts

02/21/2024 01:15:09 PM

Feb21

Please enjoy these excerpts from Rabbi Toba's weekly pre-Shabbat emails, and contact admin@dorsheitzedek.org to be added to the mailing list!

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Parashat Beshallach 5785

02/07/2025 11:35:00 AM

Feb7

It feels like we are living in the midst of a whirlwind these days.  With the very real threats to the safety and wellbeing of trans adults and children, the targeting of immigrants, the destabilizing of our entire civil service, it can be hard to stay grounded.  It is in moments like these that we need both community and spiritual practice to keep us moving forward, and not collapse from despair and overwhelm.

In this...Read more...

Parashat Bo 5785

01/31/2025 03:27:00 PM

Jan31

It was heartrending this week to learn of the tragic airline collision in Washington, DC that resulted in so many deaths. The figure skating community in the Boston area was particularly affected, as a number of the passengers were part of that community. Adding to the suffering where the incomprehensibly offensive remarks from the President in response. May those words vanish into the dustbin of history, and may all those who lost family and...Read more...

Parashat Vaera 5785

01/24/2025 04:03:00 PM

Jan24

Amidst the onslaught of horrifying directives emanating from the White House this week I, like many of you, have been struggling to stay grounded. While none of the assaults on human dignity, the rule of law and the wellbeing of vulnerable populations are a surprise, the comprehensive viciousness of it all can make one’s head spin.  And I am aware of how personally these assaults affect members of our community, especially our trans...Read more...

Parashat Shemot 5785

01/17/2025 01:56:00 PM

Jan17

There is much that is looming as we enter into Shabbat—both the hoped-for cease-fire in Israel and Gaza, and the inauguration this coming Monday. There were so many moments since last November when I felt tentatively hopeful that a ceasefire between Hamas and the Israeli government was imminent, only to have those hopes dashed. In this moment, the possibility of a significant pause in the relentless bombardment of Gaza, a massive...Read more...

Parashat Vayigash 5785

01/03/2025 02:54:00 PM

Jan3

Another week, and yet more horror and violence – a terror attack in New Orleans, continuing bombardment and starvation in Gaza, and the list goes on.  Sometimes I turn to poetry in moments like these, when it feels like our hearts are being asked to hold too much.  So, as my offering as we enter into Shabbat, a poem by the Nigerian-British writer, Ben Okri:
 
An African Elegy
 
We are the miracles...Read more...

Parashat Vayishlach 5785

12/13/2024 01:48:00 PM

Dec13

This week we lost one of the greats of American literature, as well as a great human being, activist, and educator – Nikki Giovanni.  In this moment when so much seems to be going so wrong in so many parts of the world, I found in her poem, The Song of the Feet, published in 2002, a long view that I find both sobering and inspiring.  May we be honored to walk in her footsteps, and may her memory be for a...Read more...

Parashat Vayetzei 5785

12/06/2024 12:18:00 PM

Dec6

Last night I had the privilege of co-moderating a discussion with Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green, the co-directors of Standing Together, the grassroots movement mobilizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel to end the current war, and to promote justice and equality within Israeli society.  It was wonderful to see so many CDT members there, and I know there were also folks who saw them speak the previous night.  Rula and...Read more...

Parashat Chayei Sara 5785

11/22/2024 02:55:00 PM

Nov22

This past Wednesday was Transgender Day of Remembrance and Resilience. It is a day to mourn trans people past and present who have lost their lives to transphobic hate and violence, and also a day to recommit to fighting for the dignity and rights of a community that in this moment is in the cross-hairs of the most reactionary elements of our society.  We as a congregation have made great strides in becoming a spiritually...Read more...

Parashat Lech Lecha 5785

11/08/2024 02:57:00 PM

Nov8

It has been quite a week. The election results are deeply disturbing for so many of us, whether we are feeling threatened for ourselves or those we are close to as Jews, as trans and queer people, as people of color, as immigrants, as women, as people deeply concerned with the health of our democracy and our planet, or some combination of all of the above. In addition to all that has transpired here in the U.S., the terrible news from Israel,...Read more...

Parashat Noach 5785

11/01/2024 11:26:00 AM

Nov1

I know many--if not of all of us--are feeling a lot of stress as we head into this week of the election. In addition to worry about the outcome of the election,  I know there is also concern that the voting process itself, and/or its aftermath, may be disrupted by violence or other kinds of obstruction. 

I wish I could offer words to counter-act these fears.  But the reality is it’s impossible to know what is coming,...Read more...

Parashat Bereshit 5785

10/25/2024 10:57:00 AM

Oct25

As we turn the Torah back to the very beginning, the story of Creation, I am once again reminded of what our ancestors who wrote the Torah knew only too well: that we human beings are a mixed bag. They conveyed this message in the way that two distinct Creation stories, from different times and created by different people, were woven together almost seamlessly.  In the one that we read first, Creation unfolds neatly over seven days,...Read more...

Parashat Ki Tavo 5784

09/20/2024 02:15:00 PM

Sep20

At the beginning of this week’s Torah portion, Ki Tavo, the Israelites are given instructions for when they bring the first harvest of the promised land as an offering to the Temple. They are told: “And you shall be joyful in all the good that YHVH your God has given you.” Later in the portion, Moses recites beautiful words of blessing, a promise of all the good that will come if the Israelites heed God’s voice, followed by over...Read more...

Parashat Ki Teitzei 5784

09/13/2024 10:16:00 AM

Sep13

I awoke today to the terrible news of a shooting yesterday evening in Newton, apparently during a scuffle between pro-Israel demonstrators and someone passing by who physically accosted one or more of the demonstrators, and was then shot by one of the demonstrators.  This appears to be all of the information available as I write this; the man who was shot sustained life-threatening injuries. I want to add my prayers for healing to all...Read more...

Parashat Shoftim 5784

09/06/2024 03:56:00 PM

Sep6

As we bring this difficult week to a close, I feel heartbroken that just a few days after the murders of six young Israelis held hostage by Hamas, a Turkish-American activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot and killed at a protest, along with a the shooting death of a 13 year-old Palestinian girl, Bana Laboum, both in the West Bank, both by the Israeli army. All of these these individual losses come in the midst of an ongoing torrent of death,...Read more...

Parashat Re'eh 5784

08/30/2024 02:11:00 PM

Aug30

This coming week ushers in the week of Elul. We are in the midst of a seven-week journey from Tisha b’Av to Rosh Hashanah, a time of moving through grief and brokenness into the possibility of true “turning” (teshuvah) and repair.  Practices during the month of Elul include blowing the shofar each morning; reciting Psalm 27; making amends with people whom we may have harmed in the past year; giving tzedakah; and visiting the graves...Read more...

Parashat Devarim/Shabbat Chazon 5784

08/09/2024 02:39:00 PM

Aug9

One of my favorite books about the High Holydays is This is Real & You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation, by Rabbi Alan Lew.  In it, Rabbi Lew brings together his background in Zen Buddhism with his profound Jewish knowledge to explore the spiritual power of the Days of Awe and the days surrounding them.

In framing these holy days as a “journey,” Lew interestingly begins not...Read more...

Parashat Matot-Masei 5784

08/02/2024 01:18:00 PM

Aug2

As this week comes to a close, I am sitting with both the excitement of the presidential campaign, the inspiring possibility of electing a powerful woman of color to lead this country, and with very real fears about the escalation of violence in the Middle East. The people of Gaza continue to suffer in unspeakable conditions, with ongoing bombing from Israel and now the threat of a polio outbreak.  Inside Israel, we witnessed the...Read more...

Parashat Sh'lach Lecha 5784

06/28/2024 11:18:00 AM

Jun28

In this week’s Torah portion, Sh’lach lecha, we read about one of the great crises in the story of the Israelites’ journey in the wilderness.  Having arrived at the border of the promised land, Moses instructs 12 scouts to go in and gather information in preparation for the entire community going in.  When the scouts get back, ten of them report that the land is indeed good, but that “the people who inhabit the...Read more...

Parashat Behaalotecha 5784

06/21/2024 04:05:00 PM

Jun21

In this week’s Torah portion, Behaalotecha, the Israelites finally begin their journey from Mount Sinai – where they’ve been camped for over a year since leaving Egypt—on to the promised land.  During that time, they've built the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary, and have been camped around it according to their tribes.  All has been orderly and regulated, in preparation for the next phase of their...Read more...

Parashat Bamidbar 5784

06/07/2024 03:09:00 PM

Jun7

I was in NYC this week for the T’ruah gala, and it was a wonderful event. We had 15 CDT members in person, and many many more Zooming in – I am so appreciative of all of the support, plus all of the donations so many made in my honor. Thank you!  I am not entirely comfortable being in the spotlight in this particular way, so it was really wonderful to be able to share the evening with such an amazing group of honorees.  We’ll...Read more...

Parashat Behukkotai 5784

05/31/2024 04:27:00 PM

May31

This week’s Torah portion, Behukkotai, begins with these words: “If you will walk in My laws and keep my mitzvot, to do them…I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; I am YHVH your God who brought out of the land of Egypt, from being slaves to them; I broke the bars of your yoke, making you walk upright.” 
 
I love this invitation to metaphorically “walk” in Godly ways, with...Read more...

Parashat Behar 5784

05/24/2024 03:22:00 PM

May24

This week’s Torah portion, Behar, contains some of the most radical concepts in the entire Torah. It includes the rules for the sabbatical or shemittah year, when the land was given a rest from formal planting and harvesting, and all agricultural laborers had the entire year off. The laws of private property were relaxed, so that anyone (especially those who did not own land themselves) could come onto anyone’s land to...Read more...

Parashat Emor 5784

05/17/2024 02:48:00 PM

May17

In this week’s Torah portion, Emor, we read about the counting of seven weeks between the holiday of Pesach and the “feast of weeks,” Shavuot. In Leviticus chapter 23, the Israelites are instructed to “count from the day after the holiday, from the day on which you bring the sheaf of elevation offering, you shall count seven weeks…You shall count until one day after the seventh week, 50 days, and then you shall bring an...Read more...

Shabbat Hagadol 5784

04/19/2024 03:24:00 PM

Apr19

This Shabbat is called Shabbat Hagadol, “the great Shabbat,” most likely in honor of the special haftarah, a selection from the prophet Malachi that warns of a “great day” coming, an era of justice and healing. More colloquially, it took on this name because the rabbi would give a really long sermon about keeping the rules of Passover kashrut!
 
While I won’t be haranguing  anyone about their kashrut observance, I...Read more...

Parashat Shmini/Shabbat HaChodesh 5784

04/05/2024 04:23:00 PM

Apr5

This Sunday, April 7, marks 6 months since the attacks of October 7 and the devastating war in Gaza began.  The horrifying, inexcusable killing of workers with World Central Kitchen this past week is simply the latest in the horrors of this war, in which countless innocent people have lost their lives, in which most of the population of Gaza is suffering from famine, and which has made Israelis no safer (quite the contrary). Even as...Read more...

Parashat Tzav 5784

03/29/2024 05:42:00 PM

Mar29

This week’s Torah portion, Tzav, is the second in the book of Vayikra/Leviticus, a book dedicated to the various priestly rituals and laws relating to the Temple in Jerusalem.  At the heart of priestly practice was the sacrificial system, in which Israelites would bring offerings to the Temple – grains, fruits, and animals – as a korban, an offering meant to bring the person closer to an experience of the...Read more...

Parashat Vayikra/Shabbat Zakhor 5784

03/22/2024 05:31:00 PM

Mar22

We are entering into the Shabbat before Purim, Shabbat Zakhor—“Remember!”—based on an a few verses from the book of Deuteronomy traditionally added to the weekly Torah reading, in which the Israelites are commanded to “remember what Amalek did to you on your way out of Egypt,” and the additional command to “blot out the memory of Amalek.”  The villain of the Purim story, Haman, is understood to be a descendant of the...Read more...

Parashat Pekudei 5784

03/15/2024 02:03:00 PM

Mar15

In this week’s Torah portion, Pekudei, we come to the end of the book of Exodus with an account of the completion of the building of the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary in the desert.  The final verses of Exodus recount Moses setting up each piece of the Mishkan, which was crafted by the people, and then, the “God cloud” descending to indicate YHVH’s Presence within the Mishkan.

Rabbi Shefa Gold shares a beautiful...Read more...

Parashat Vayak’hel 5784

03/08/2024 04:07:00 PM

Mar8

This week’s Torah portion is Vayak’hel, “And he gathered,” which recounts Moses gathering together the Israelite community to begin the work of building the Mishkan, the portable sanctuary.  I was blessed to experience my own “gathering” this week in Atlanta with the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Due to both the pandemic and then the movement-wide convention in 2022, this was the first time we’d had our...Read more...

Parashat Ki Tisa 5784

03/01/2024 12:57:00 PM

Mar1

This week’s Torah portion is Ki Tisa, which relates the episode of the Golden Calf, which the Israelites create in a panic at Moses’ absence on Mount Sinai.  There is a very interesting analysis by biblical scholar Jacob Milgrom of what he calls the “Hexateuch,” the 6 books from Genesis through the book of Joshua (Joshua is the book immediately following Deuteronomy, the last of the “five books of Moses,” in the Hebrew...Read more...

Wed, March 19 2025 19 Adar 5785